McCain Plan Is for Energy Independence

WASHINGTON — Senator McCain will pledge to issue a "declaration of independence" from foreign oil as president, in a speech laced with fiery rhetoric in which the Arizona Republican will present global warming as a "serious and urgent" security challenge that requires mandatory emissions caps to combat.

The address Mr. McCain is set to deliver here today is the final in a series of three major policy speeches he is giving in the run-up to the "official" launch of a presidential bid he has been waging for months.

In discussing energy and climate change today, the one-time Republican front-runner is likely to cement his position in the political center of the environment debate. According to excerpts provided to The New York Sun, Mr. McCain will reject skepticism about the science behind global warming while calling for a combination of "reasonable" caps on carbon emissions and tax incentives to push the market toward more environmentally friendly practices.

"The problem isn't a Hollywood invention, nor is doing something about it a vanity of Cassandra-like hysterics," Mr. McCain plans to say. "It is a serious and urgent economic, environmental, and national security challenge."

Mr. McCain has long diverged from some conservatives who have resisted far-reaching efforts to address climate change, and he plans to tout a "cap and trade" plan he has advocated with Senator Lieberman of Connecticut, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, which would reward companies that reduce emissions with tax credits that could be traded in the open market.

Mayor Giuliani also speaks often about the need to become energy independent and address climate change. He has said any effort would have to be funded both by government and private sources, but he has not issued a detailed policy proposal.